In This Mountain by Jan Karon | Book Review

Continuing my re-read project... In This Mountain is the seventh Mitford book.  I already know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE these books for myriad reasons, so this is more of a recap than a review.  There will be spoilers, not only for the six books before this but also for this one.  Remember, our goal is to get reacquainted with Mitford and Father Tim before the release of the tenth book in September!

So this book is definitely the darkest Mitford book yet.  It's still wonderfully written, and there are still so very many sweet and/or funny scenes, but it's almost all against a backdrop of injury and depression.  As the book opens, Father Tim and Cynthia are preparing to join a mission in the mountains of Tennessee.  However, both of them agree that it feels just a little "off."  More seriously, Father Tim is starting to feel that his health is more than a little "off."  He ends up blacking out while driving, hitting Pastor Sprouse and his dog, and being in a coma for two days.  The trip to Tennessee is definitely off.  Dooley is spending the summer at Meadowgate rather than with him.  He probably won't even recover enough to escort his wife to NYC to receive a prestigious children's book award.  No wonder he's mired in depression.

Fortunately, it's Mitford!  While it's unrealistic for everything to come up roses, a lot of things do.  Pastor Sprouse is incredibly forgiving, and is even able to see the silver lining.  Father Tim sends Dooley as Cynthia's escort to NYC.  He's even able to get himself going again.  He fills in at Lord's Chapel two Sundays, and he welcomes the Man in the Attic (George) to live in his basement with Harley.  He and Helene get incredibly lucky and they find Dooley's brother Sammy.  Only one Barlowe left to find!  

I'm going to start the eighth book, Shepherds Abiding, today.  And I just received a copy of Light From Heaven, thanks to my outrageously awesome hubby.  :)  Speaking of the hubby... we just celebrated 5 years of marriage!  Woo hoo!  We ran away for a whole weekend to Mitford.  (Blowing Rock, NC)  While there I popped into the local library (of course) and browsed their book sale and found a new-to-me Mitford book: Patches of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotations.  I immediately began perusing it and I love it!  I'll review it more thoroughly soon.

As of today, there's officially less than a month to go for Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good!

*I own my copy of In This Mountain.